If your building bills water or electricity from its own meters, those charges land on your normal monthly rent bill — with the full working shown, down to a photo of your actual meter. No mystery numbers.

Where utility charges appear

Open Rent & Payments and expand a month's "Invoice breakdown" (see Your rent ledger & monthly invoice). A metered utility appears as its own line — water measured in cubic metres (m³), electricity in kilowatt-hours (kWh).

The maths, spelled out

Under the line you'll see exactly how the amount was calculated:

• Previous reading → current reading — what the meter said last month and this month.
• Consumption — the difference: what you actually used.
• Rate — the price per m³ or per kWh your landlord has set.
• Fixed fee — some buildings add a small fixed monthly amount (for things like sewerage or the service line). If there is one, it's shown separately.
• Who took the reading — the name of the person who read your meter, whether the landlord or the building's caretaker.

So a water line might read: Meter: 3,450 → 3,462 = 12 m³ @ KES 150 + 200 fixed. You can check every number yourself.

The meter photo is your proof

Next to the working is a "View meter photo" link — a photo of your meter's face, taken at reading time. This isn't decoration: a reading cannot be billed without its photo. If the number on your bill ever looks off, open the photo and compare. That photo exists precisely so you never have to take a reading on faith.

A bill passed on to you

Not every building sub-meters. Sometimes your landlord (or the caretaker) is handed a KPLC statement, a county water bill or a garbage invoice for your unit and passes it on. That lands on your rent bill the same way — its own line, labelled with the month it covers — and underneath it a "View the bill" link opens the actual bill they were sent, as a photo or PDF. A passed-on bill cannot be added without that attachment, so there is always paper to check against. Who added it and any note they left ("shared meter, split three ways") sit right there too.

Meter replaced or rolled over?

Meters occasionally get swapped or roll past their maximum. When that happens, the reading is marked accordingly and the note explaining what happened appears right on your bill line — again, no surprises.

Paying

There's nothing separate to do. Utility lines are part of your normal monthly bill, so you pay them together with rent — M-Pesa, card or bank, one payment, one receipt. See Paying rent.

If the rate changes

Landlords can update their price per unit, but a rate change only applies to future readings. Anything already billed keeps the rate it was calculated with — a past month's bill never quietly changes under you.

Questions about a reading? Message your landlord through Messages — with the readings, rate and photo all on your bill, it's usually a quick conversation.